Good and easy 3D program...

[iQuit]

I will be new to 3D designing on a Mac, I don't have a lot of money to spare but I need something inexpspensive and effective.

Here's what I want to do with it.

1.Design 3d models such as a Car

2.Design a model and edit it, such as get a Car like a Mustang and edit parts of it

3.Maybe be able fill in the model(s) with color, if not then I have Photoshop


thanks.

[homerjward]

i dont know how much you're looking to spend--blender is free. http://www.blender3d.com there's also maya personal learning edition http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900003 for school i use lightwave but that's prolly more than you want to spend.
edit: nice profile pic :p

[pubwvj]

We use Blender but it is not easy or quick to learn.
Powerful and free though! :)

[iQuit]

Thanks guys....I downloaded the whopping 800 page tutorial and started to work with it, it is pretty good for being free. I think this will suit me fine for now...

[blenderdude]

Yeah, blender is extremely capable! (i'm a blenderhead myself (witness my s/n); you can check some of my work at my crappy website: http://www.cgartwork.com/jms/)

The interface definitely takes time to get used to. But, good news! For the next release, the UI is getting a major refactor, namely the buttons windows. I am helping with this myself.
Check out http://wiki.blender.org/bin/view.pl/Blenderdev/ButtonsInformationArchitecture for more info. Scroll down to the "design proposal" section for screenshots :)

Also, be aware that there is an open-documentation project, based on the Blender 2.3 manual, although it is a bit outdated. Check Download > Documentation on blender3d.org for that.

One of the newer features added to blender 2.37(a) that is not in the manual is Softbodies. I wrote the softbody release document, which you can check here: http://blender3d.org/cms/Softbodies.549.0.html
There is a quick getting started tutorial near the bottom of the document.

Enjoy blender, and feel free to PM me with any questions!

[TheMonarch]

A very "inexpensive" 3d program is Cinema 4D... $700, but is so easy to use... It has a very natural feeling...


Its relatively cheap, do you know how much 3DS MAX costs?

google it and you'll see


Its 100 more than Photoshop ;)

[YS2003]

Does Blender run well on the current line of iBook and PB? I am now getting into graphics and 3D and I am very intrigued by Blender (because it's free and is very capable according to various comments on the forums).

[mduser63]

I started running Blender last year on my 400 MHz Power Mac G4, and it ran fine unless I turned the screen resolution up to 1600 x 1200 (only a 16 MB VRAM video card in that machine). Haven't tried it on my PowerBook, but I would be surprised if it didn't run quite well. As you would expect, it runs great on my dual G5.

It's a cross-platform application, so if you want too, you can run it on one of the PCs in your sig, either in Linux or in Windows.

[YS2003]

it is good to know the normal res with iBook/PB's LCD can work with Blender. Has anyone tried PBs with 20" or 23" ACD (PBs with 64 MB VRAM) for this program? I use my PB as a clam shell more and I want to make sure I can work on Blender on my ACDs. I am guessing PBs' 64 MB VRAM is sufficient enough to run Blender at ACD's native resolutions.

[Josh]

I picked up Lightwave in a fairly easy and quick time.

Granted, I never became a Guru, but I did make some very realistic models, and sold them online @ Turbo Squid.

If you play with it enough, and follow tutorials online, you can pick it up in good time, and have fun while doing so :)

I tried 3DS Max and Maya, and I'm not sure if it was because I was already familiar with LW or not, but I found them to be a little more difficult.

Unfortunately, I havne't worked with 3D in a couple years now.

[YS2003]

I jsut got a book "Blender Guide" from Amazon a few days ago. I am going to try this open source 3D program. I am going to use my Ti PB as a ginea pig to see how Blender works with Mac OS. I am hoping I can pick up my way with Blender quickly.